Liu Ji

Life

He first studied as a county school student (shengyuan) and became a provincial graduate (juren); in 1448, the thirteenth year of the Zhengtong era, he passed the imperial examination as a jinshi, ranking twenty-fourth in the second class. He was chosen as a bachelor (shujishi) and appointed a compiler (bianxiu) of the Hanlin Academy, and in 1450, the first year of the Jingtai era, he served as an imperial lecturer (jingyan guan); when the Huanyu tongzhi was completed he was promoted to senior compiler (xiuzhuan). In 1460, the fourth year of Tianshun, he lectured to the heir apparent, the future Emperor Xianzong, and in 1462, the sixth year of Tianshun, he served as a provincial examination officer.

After Emperor Xianzong ascended the throne, he was summoned to compile the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong, and thereafter held the posts of Reader (shidu), Reader-Bachelor (shidu xueshi), right vice-minister of Rites and left vice-minister of Rites, repeatedly serving as an examiner for the metropolitan examination, a reader of palace examination papers and an expositor at the classics colloquium. In 1475, the eleventh year of Chenghua, he was made Hanlin academician, entered the Grand Secretariat to participate in state affairs together with Liu Xu, and served as Minister of Rites; he was one of the men mocked in the Chenghua era as the "paper-pasted three grand secretaries". When the future Emperor Xiaozong left the palace school, he was granted the title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and made Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion; after the Wenhua daxun was completed he was given the title Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and advanced to Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall. In time he was advanced to Minister of Revenue and Grand Secretary of the Jinshen Hall, and then to Junior Guardian together with Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent.

After Emperor Xiaozong's accession, with Wan An and Yin Zhi retiring in succession, Liu Ji became senior grand secretary; on the new emperor's accession he was promoted to Junior Tutor and concurrently Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent and Minister of Personnel, and when the Veritable Records of Xianzong was completed he was further promoted to Junior Preceptor and Grand Secretary of the Huagai Hall. Liu Ji was a calculating man who built up factions for private ends, and he was constantly attacked by censorial officials; yet he remained in the Grand Secretariat for eighteen years and was nicknamed "Liu Mianhua" (劉綿花, also written 劉緜花), meaning that he was "impeachment-proof". He proposed promoting dozens of censorial officials such as He Qin and Qiang Zhen in order to win them over; when Lin Jun, Zhang Sheng, Cao Lin, Ouyang Dan, Fang Xiang and Chen Song continued to impeach him, he joined with the eunuch Jiang Cong to expel many ministers and censors, after which officials watched in alarm and critics gradually fell silent. In the early Hongzhi reign, trusted by the emperor, he launched several great purges and demoted those who opposed him.

In 1492, the fifth year of Hongzhi, when Emperor Xiaozong wished to enfeoff the empress's younger brother as a count and ordered Liu Ji to draft the letters patent of investiture, Liu Ji insisted that the sons of the two empress dowagers' families be enfeoffed first; the emperor was displeased and sent eunuchs to his house to suggest that he retire, whereupon Liu Ji submitted a memorial asking to withdraw. Suspecting that the attacks on him came from failed provincial graduates, he proposed that men who failed the metropolitan examination three times should be barred from taking it again; the proposal was never carried out. He died a year after returning home and was posthumously granted the title Grand Preceptor (太師) and the posthumous name Wenmu (文穆).

Works

He took part in compiling the Da Ming yitong zhi, the Huanyu tongzhi, the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong, the Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong, the Wenhua daxun, the Xianzong baoxun and the Xu Zizhi tongjian gangmu, and in the early Hongzhi reign he served as a director-general of compilation.

Family

His great-grandfather was Liu Shaoxian, his grandfather Liu Jie, his father Liu Fu and his mother a woman of the Qi family; he was the second of the brothers, with an elder brother Liu Qing and younger brothers Liu Ning, Liu Tai and Liu Heng. He married a woman of the Duan family and had sons Liu Wei and Liu Gao. After his death, Xu Pu composed his spirit-path stele inscription.